Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Just Don't Do It!

Remember Bush and his culture of life? You know, that highly framed way of putting that he's against abortion and wants the government to have a seat between a woman and her doctor. Well, just like his one trick pony for solving all economic ills is a tax cut, his one trick for solving abortion is to promote abstinence programs. That's right boys and girls, just don't do it.

Ya, that'll work.

It worked so well when I was a hormone filled teenager who, like most young men, was obsessed with getting past second base. It worked of so well when I was a horny college student that I can remember more about my sexual encounters than I can about my professors or their lessons. It worked so well that I did indeed have sex. Not as much as I'd like, but then again I was obsessed and filled with raging hormones so how could reality ever measure up.

People have been telling people not to have sex forever, and yet, here we all are. How'd that happen? Abstinence "education" doesn't work. That's why. People have sex. The have sex for the right reasons. They have sex for the wrong reasons. They have sex when they didn't think they were going to. They have sex when they knew there were going to. They have sex in astounding places, at astounding times, in astounding ways (however I've never understood stairs). Most often in the heat of passion. And we all know who's doing the thinking then.

Hint: the last thing on our minds isn't that talk from dear old dad about the birds and the bees at that moment.

So of course Bush is cutting the budget in efforts to bring down the record deficit he created. Wonderful things like cutting education, raising co-pays for Veterans, eliminating environmental standards... you know, everything but doing away with his tax cuts for the wealthy. His motto for the cuts: If the program doesn't work or show results, then it get's cut.

Buzz Pruitt, professor of health and kinesiology at Texas A&M University, and colleagues examined five abstinence-only sex education programs at more than 24 schools across Texas. For the study, junior high and high school students filled out an anonymous 10-page questionnaire on their sexual behavior. The study found that 23% of ninth-grade girls reported having had sexual intercourse before they received abstinence education, a percentage below the national average.

However, the study found that 28% of the same girls reported having had sexual intercourse after receiving abstinence education, a percentage that is "closer to that of their peers across the state," according to the Morning News. In addition, the study found that the percentage of ninth-grade boys reporting having had sexual intercourse remained unchanged before and after abstinence education; however, the percentage of 10th grade boys reporting sexual activity "jumped" from 24% to 39% after participating in abstinence education, according to the Morning News. "We didn't find strong evidence of program effect," Pruitt said, adding, "We didn't find what many would like for us to find."

That's right boys and girls, they didn't find what Bush wants you to find. Surprisingly, you tell that sophomore horndog boy he can't have it, and blamo, he just wants it more. Fifteen percent more to be accurate. Freshmen girls had the same amount of sex they did before and after being told to just say no.

Typical GOP. Just say no! If that doesn't work, then go get pregnant. That's what you get for being a whore. Punishment rather than understanding. No wonder, after reaching all time lows under Clinton, abortion rates have again risen under Bush's "just don't do it" approach. When you cut family planning you wind up with unplanned and unwanted pregnancies. When you force more people into poverty yo wind up with people who can't afford to have kids. No wonder that abortions then result.

No one if pro-abortion. But the fact of the matter is this: if you do not teach people how to avoid pregnancy, you put them into a position in which abortion may be seen as an option. Rather than doing this, why not try to reduce abortions by promoting abstinence and safe sex. Why not teach people who are going to have sex anyway how to do it in a way that will prevent the spread of disease and unwanted pregnancy.